I feel like much of your comment can be reduced to focusing on the underlying concepts instead of the various (perpetually outdated) APIs. An API is just a mean

I feel like much of your comment can be reduced to focusing on the underlying concepts instead of the various (perpetually outdated) APIs. An API is just a means to an end that could (and probably will) change tomorrow. > HSV color? Similarly, specific color spaces aren't what's important. RGB, sRGB, HSV, Display P3, they're all just implementation details. Color spaces as a concept are what's important. What problem do they solve? What are the tradeoffs being made between them? Why does gamma even exist in the first place? How does all this stuff relate to reasonably modern hardware that was actually manufactured within the past decade? I do think there's a bit of a lose-lose situation here though. 3D math is hard and modern hardware is staggeringly complex but doing a competent job is probably going to require a decent understanding of such underlying details. Meanwhile, a university course that doesn't leave students proficient with the latest and greatest API is likely to be accused of failing to prepare them for the real world. APIs keep changing year after year though, inevitably rendering any such material outdated in short order.